Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Wichita, KS

May 21, 1989Reno County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at May 21, 1989, 11:42 PM CDT for Reno County, Kansas. It was in force for 33 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 21, 1989, 11:42 PM CDT (04:42 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 1989, 12:15 AM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Reno County, KS

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 161 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 2824 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1775 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KICT 220443
TORICT
KSC155-220515-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
1142 PM CDT SUN MAY 21 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS
          ...CENTRAL AND EASTERN RENO
 
AT 1135 PM CDT...RENO COUNTY CIVIL DEFENSE REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD
8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HUTCHINSON. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT
25 MILES AN HOUR.  DAMAGING WINDS UP TO 70 MPH HAVE ALSO BEEN
REPORTED NEAR THE SAME LOCATION.  SOME OF THE CITIES INCLUDED
ARE HUTCHINSON...PARTRIDGE...AND DARLOW.
 
 
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS STORM.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
STURDIER BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
KRAUSE

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 21, 7:35 PM CDT, 4 hours 7 minutes before

KSZ009-009-011-012-014-017-220135-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
734 PM CDT SUN MAY 21 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS ARE ONCE AGAIN DEVELOPING ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTH
   CENTRAL KANSAS...

AT 730 PM CDT...A SMALL AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED RATHER
QUICKLY OVER SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS 30 TO 35 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
WICHITA OR ACROSS CENTRAL AND NORTHERN COWLEY COUNTY. MOVEMENT IS
EXPECTED TO BE TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST.

ALTHOUGH THE STORMS WERE NOT SEVERE IN NATURE AS OF 730 PM...THEY
DID DEVELOP IN A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO CLOSELY
MONITOR THESE STORMS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.

AND...AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM HAD DEVELOPED ACROSS SOUTHWEST
KANSAS /35 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DODGE CITY OR NEAR ASHLAND.
WILSON

Special weather statement, May 21, 10:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 27 minutes before

KSZ009-009-011-012-014-017-220430-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
1015 PM CDT SUN MAY 21 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS WERE RAPIDLY DEVELOPING AROUND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS...

AT 1010 PM CDT...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED RATHER QUICKLY
BETWEEN WICHITA AND PRATT...AND ALSO JUST SOUTHWEST OF EUREKA...OR ABOUT
55 MILES EAST OF WICHITA.

THE STORMS HAVE DEVELOPED IN A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS...AND MAY HAVE THE
POTENTIAL TO BECOME SEVERE.  A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR MUCH
OF SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND A SMALL PORTION OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

PERSONS IN SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR
RADIO AND TELEVISION FOR POSSIBLE WARNINGS AND STHATEMENTS.  STORMS MAY
STRENGTHEN QUICKLY...SO YOU SHOULD BE READY TO GET TO SHELTER QUICKLY.

ALSO...OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE WEST OF A LINE FROM SALINA TO
MEDICINE LODGE...OR ABOUT 60 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WICHITA.

KRAUSE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wichita, KS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 21, 8:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Bourbon	40 min
May 21, 9:51 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	ICT	Cowley	4 hr
May 21, 10:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick	55 min
May 21, 10:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Kingman, Reno	68 min
May 21, 11:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick, Sumner	59 min
May 21, 11:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler	68 min
May 21, 11:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harvey	58 min
May 21, 11:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Greenwood	59 min
May 21, 11:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harper	61 min
May 22, 12:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick, Sumner	67 min
May 22, 12:48 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Cowley	57 min
May 22, 1:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chautauqua, Elk, Greenwood	63 min
May 22, 2:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Montgomery, Wilson	55 min
May 22, 2:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Labette, Neosho	55 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1989 Every tornado warning in 1989 Tornadoes in 1989

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.